“I always wanted you to be free, and I can’t…” The lump in his throat rose and he choked it back down.
“Oh, baby,” she murmured, smoothing her hand across the red mark on his chest where she’d smacked him. “That doesn’t matter to me. It never has.”
But it had, once. Freedom. It had been worth death, for her. He still felt sick every time he remembered plunging the knife into her heart.Forgive me, darling. But then her eyes had opened, and she’d known him right away, and she’d smiled with blood in her teeth. He’d turned her into a creature made to be owned, and she’d only ever thanked him for it. Rejoiced in the chance to be together forever.
If they were human, he might have been able to drive her away. Scream lies at her, tell her he hated her, that he didn’t want her anymore; and maybe she would believe it, and tearing his heart out, letting her walk away, would be worth it if it meant she was away from this nightmare. Safe and sound.
But they were wolves, and their love was a living thing that could be scented, and heard, and touched between them. Lying to each other was impossible.
“I wish I could make you leave,” he whispered, eyes burning.
“I know.” She shifted around carefully so she could put both her hands on his face. Wipe the wetness from beneath his eyes with equally wet thumbs.
She pressed her mouth to his, and it felt like he’d failed, even though he’d done that long ago, when he refused to let her die.
